The chatty and highly informative memoirs of the musician and composer Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (1763-1842) have remained inaccessible to the English-reading public since their original appearance in Italian in 1830, although there were two republications in Italy in the 20th century. This is the first translation into any other language. Ferrari was the son of a silk merchant in northern Italy, and went south to Naples to study composition with Paisiello and Latilla. From there he headed northwards, arriving first in Paris, where he met Dussek and Steibelt, and played for the unfortunate...